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First tissue-engineered windpipe transplant

The first tissue-engineered trachea (windpipe), utilising the patient's own stem cells, has been successfully transplanted into a young woman with a failing airway.

18 Nov 2008

Accera to launch Axona, medical food product for Alzheimer's in 2009

Accera, Inc. will launch Axona in the United States for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the first quarter of 2009.

18 Nov 2008

Two common cancer drugs prevent, reverse type 1 diabetes

Two common cancer drugs have been shown to both prevent and reverse type 1 diabetes in a mouse model of the disease, according to research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco.

18 Nov 2008

Gel Technologies raises $9 million

Gel Technologies Ltd today announced the successful completion of an investment round of $9 million.

18 Nov 2008

Targanta Therapeutics announces posting of briefing documents for review of FDA

Targanta Therapeutics Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted on its website briefing documents for the November 19, 2008 Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee (AIDAC) meeting.

18 Nov 2008

LegitScript shuts down 500 no-prescription-required online pharmacies

LegitScript, an online pharmacy certification program, announced today that it has succeeded in getting nearly 500 "rogue" Internet pharmacy websites shut down.

18 Nov 2008

Discovery of gene associated with epilepsy

A University of Iowa-led international research team has found a new gene associated with the brain disorder epilepsy.

18 Nov 2008

How should we assess new antimalarial drugs?

In recent years, the use of a three-day course of an antimalarial treatment called ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) in over 40 countries that face endemic malaria has shown great success in curing this deadly disease.

18 Nov 2008

Fitch Ratings revises Merck & Co.'s outlook

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Merck & Co.'s (Merck) ratings, and revised the Rating Outlook to Negative from Stable.

18 Nov 2008

Celprogen introduces in vivo model for human glioblastoma

Celprogen Inc. has announced that they have successfully validated an in vivo model system for testing efficacy of cancer drugs and also novel drug candidates for Human Glioblastoma.

18 Nov 2008

Why HIV treatment makes people more susceptible to metabolic complications

Clinicians have known for some time that people treated for HIV also become much more susceptible to diabetes and heart disease.

17 Nov 2008

Scientists use patient's own stem cells to treat heart failure

Researchers at the University of Utah are enrolling people in a new clinical trial that uses a patient's own stem cells to treat ischemic and non-ischemic heart failure.

17 Nov 2008

A link found between nicotine addiction and autism

Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism.

17 Nov 2008

Pain and itch regulated by different molecular mechanisms

Historically, scientists have regarded itching as a less intense version of the body's response to pain, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have determined that pain and itch actually are regulated by different molecular mechanisms.

17 Nov 2008

Breakthrough reveals first ever complete structure of a nuclear hormone receptor on human DNA

For decades, scientists have been studying nuclear hormone receptors to gain a better understanding of how they turn genes on and off throughout the body and how they function as key drug targets for a number of diseases, such as diabetes, breast cancer, osteoporosis and high cholesterol. A new UVA Health System study, led by Fraydoon Rastinejad, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and director of the UVA Center for Molecular Design and published in the October 29 issue of Nature, reveals the first ever complete structure of a nuclear hormone receptor on human DNA – a discovery that now clears a new path for scientists to design more effective drugs with fewer associated health risks. “Dr. Rastinejad’s findings fundamentally change the way people all over the world will study how nuclear hormone receptors work and introduces a new platform for designing better drugs,” says Jim Garrison, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at UVA Health System. Nuclear hormone receptors, including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), are proteins that sit on the surface of cells and bind to specific hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and thyroid hormone. Once the receptor binds to its hormone and its DNA regulatory element, it can cause a number of alterations in the cell, switching genes on and off. These switches control the continual regulation of the metabolic system and reproductive tissues, as well as the development and differentiation of skin, bone and behavioral centers in the brain. “PPARs are widely studied because they regulate the genes that produce fat cells, glucose, insulin, lipids and metabolism,” says Dr. Rastinejad. “That’s what makes them such good drug targets for diseases like diabetes. We can design drugs more rationally to bind to the PPAR nuclear receptor complex to help regulate these functions in the body.” A number of diabetes drugs, called insulin sensitizers, have been developed based on that knowledge, but now that scientists have a clear view into how these receptors bind and what shape they take the door is wide open for the development of better drugs. "After 40 years of nuclear receptor research, we finally can view the first full and complete structure of a nuclear receptor, thanks to Dr. Rastinejad’s break-though achievement,” says Bert W. O’Malley, Ph.D., professor and chairman, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine who is widely considered a top expert in the field.

17 Nov 2008